After being humbled by Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals of the Madrid Open on Saturday, Djokovic appears to now be much closer to the player who held all four Grand Slam titles midway through 2016 as he looks to mount a challenge not only for his fifth title in Rome but also his second in Paris.

Bautista Agut – on his favoured surface – made nothing easy for Djokovic but the Serbian No. 1 stood up to everything thrown at him to secure an important 6-4 6-4 win.

The world No. 2 had beaten the Spaniard in their two previous meetings on clay, at Roland Garros and Madrid in 2016, and holds a 5-1 head-to-head record against his opponent but he was beaten in their most recent meeting in Shanghai.

Bautista Agut pushed Djokovic hard (Picture: Getty)

But it was the current French Open champion who triumphed on Thursday afternoon in Rome.

Both men moved through their opening three service games without facing any danger of being broken but it was Djokovic who struck first blood for a 4-3 lead.

The world No. 20 horribly netted a backhand from inside the service box, with Djokovic seemingly stranded at the net, to gift the 29-year-old the early initiative.

Djokovic powered through (Picture: Getty)

Chasing his fifth title in Rome – which would certainly be a fine 30th birthday present for Monday – Djokovic largely stood up well to the challenging long rallies against the clay-court specialist and wrapped up the first set 6-4.

A break in the early stages of the second set put the 12-time Grand Slam champion in control but Bautista Agut hit back in controversial circumstances.

However, he regained his composure and found a way through and will now face either Kei Nishikori or Juan Martin del Potro in the quarter-finals, with several high-profile stars already into the last-eight.

Milos Raonic will take on Alexander Zverev after seeing off Tomas Berdych and Fabio Fognini respectively, while Marin Cilic dumped David Goffin, who was struggling with injury, out of the event.

An even bigger shock occurred as world No. 3 Stan Wawrinka – who has endured a nightmare build-up to the second Grand Slam of the year – lost to big-serving American John Isner 6-7 (1-7) 4-6.